Home Style | The Man Den

Receiving a new Pottery Barn catalog is a weekly occurrence in my home, and often nothing to get too excited about. But I always take a look to see if anything inspires me, or makes me wish I had more space – an entire house, for instance.

Anyway, this week’s catalog had a few pages that caught my eye. Aside from a nice selection of manly leather goods strategically placed for holiday wishlists, I found this photo of a pool table situated in a room with a bar (above). My eyes widened and my jaw dropped, and I asked my wife again why we choose to live in a 700 sq ft apartment in Brooklyn instead of a 4 bedroom home in the suburbs. True, we have our friends here in the city, and the question remains – do we really want to give up the conveniences of living in New York City; our friends being close by, the restaurants, bars, shops, and daily inspirations all for a bigger home for which we’ll need constant maintenance, a longer commute (for her), being away from friends, restaurants, bars, shops, and daily inspirations? It’s a question for the ages. I love my life, and how we live it, but there’s a part of me that wants that yard with a grill, 2-car garage, proper office, workable kitchen, decent closet space, and above all a place for me to escape to have a drink, watch baseball, entertain my friends while she does the same in another room before we all get together for the festive meal, etc. So, leave it to Pottery Barnto again bring out in me the urge to become a suburban man with a man cave or man den, in exchange for the modern conveniences of city living.

They’ve even made it more torturous by creating an entire section on the site called The Men’s Dencomplete with the pool table and bar plus couches, chairs, rugs, entertainment consoles, lamps, glasses, leather goods, books, and wall decor perfect for completing what I like to call a sophisticated version of the classic Man Cave. Because what are we, primates?

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2 comments

Just remember that a suburban dwelling does not guarantee a man cave. You’ve been to my house – my man cave consists of an unheated, bare cement floor garage that houses the trash cans (which regular contain stank arse diapers). All that being said, I personally would take the grill/yard/garage/quiet neighborhood over city living any day…but I’m self-admittedly more of a country bumpkin than most people.